A little blog about projects, lessons and reflections.

MiTunes and text – English and the language of song

Warning: We’re getting to the sentimental end of this journey… it’s becoming a story of personal growth.

DQ: How has music shaped your world?

Whilst I came in with the idea for this project, I left the product/presentation up to the kids. This is their second last project before leaving, I wanted them to have ample voice and choice to make it their own. In saying that, I had big dreams – give me bells and whistles! What they came up with was a roaming in-school exhibition. They broke up into groups of like interests and each took a space; teams would respond to the DQ in their own way, providing an interactive experience for the audience. How do I object to such a logical plan? Each room had a different vibe, here are two examples exemplifying the diversity of the project as well as their personal growth.

Room 1: This room honed in on the war experience selecting a range of different songs about war. In their initial brainstorm they started with the idea that the audience would travel through the room, progressing from war to war in chronological order experiencing the way in which music represented each experience differently. This evolved to a session specifically focused on the Vietnam War. The audience was greeted at the door by a ‘soldier’ who set the scene, telling them about the equipment they would have had to carry etc. They then entered by crawling through a long dark tunnel (see picture) coming out to meet their guide for the session. Their guide was one of my highly intelligent, but highly introverted boys. He is not a comfortable public speaker. However, this is a passion of his and he stepped up. Seeing him present to three rotating groups was a high point of the year for me. I couldn’t stop grinning at his personal growth – so much so that he made me face the wall during his dry run, my grin was putting him off.

Room 2: This team had a band merchandise style tent, talking about how music has shaped their lives, how it’s helped them evolve as teens. They’re all in a band and music has played a major role in shaping their identities. One of my boys has been putting together a jacket over the past few years with band patches all over it. He spoke about this as a physical representation of his development, it was intensely personal, but also intensely cool.